


i was lightning (before the thunder)

by heavydiirtysoul



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Cute, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Thunderstorms, joshler - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 10:52:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11273964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavydiirtysoul/pseuds/heavydiirtysoul
Summary: Tyler is scared of thunderstorms, but Josh has a great idea of what to do against that.





	i was lightning (before the thunder)

He's not sure when exactly he'd started to be scared of thunderstorms again, but he can't even think of being embarrassed as he huddles under the covers with Josh, that's how afraid he is.

The surprised gasp is completely lost on him as he slings shivering arms around the comfortably warm form of his best friend, wrapped up in blankets even though it's kind of too hot in the bus to even consider anything more than boxers and then nothing else.

"Tyler? What's wrong?"

"m'afraid."

"Oh." Silence, then familiar arms pull him closer under the covers, embrace him and he immediately feels safer. 

For a few minutes, they just lie there, both sweaty and too warm, listening to the deep growls of thunder rolling above them, the harsh splatter of rain and maybe hail on the roof of the bus. It could be peaceful, beautiful even, if Tyler wasn't shaking like a leaf in autumn despite the unbearable heat.

"I didn't know you were scared of thunderstorms."

Josh's voice is like honey stirred into tea, very warm and golden, and still, Tyler feels the cold grasp of fear and maybe now embarrassment too, finally.

"I'm not. ... I mean, I wasn't. I don't know why it's come back."

"You were afraid as a kid?"

"Mh-hm." Tyler nods against the warm comfort of the pillow they're sharing. He can feel Josh's breathing in his neck when he talks, and it's giving him goosebumps - but not the bad ones, so he shuffles a little closer, even though there's barely any room left.

"I'm gonna keep you safe."

Tyler nods again, and even though his heart is still going a hundred miles a minute he wills himself to keep quiet. 

"We could cuddle up on the front seat. Watch it so it feels less scary."

He knows he should conquer his fears, be strong and an adult and take this heads on, but the thought of being closer to the storm makes him feel like running.

"Do we have to?"

"No." He can feel Josh shaking his head, and then a warm hand kneading circles into his side. "We don't have to. I just thought it might help."

Josh is probably right, so Tyler reconsiders. Maybe seeing the storm would really make it less scary. 

"We can try. But if it gets too bad, we need to go back here."

"Of course."

Before Tyler can protest, strong arms roll him forward and up and there he is, in Josh's arms, carried bridal-style or maybe like a child - which is kind of appropriate seeing how he's been acting the past 15 minutes.

"You don't have to -"

"I know", Josh interrupts and nuzzles a sneaky kiss into Tyler's hair, "but I wanted to."

He's being settled into one of the seats up front, right at the window, and the rain is so hard on the glass that he can barely see anything outside besides a faint street lamp flickering in the distance and the sign of the motel they'd ditched in favor of sleeping in the bus - a decision he maybe regretted a little bit by now.

Josh wraps an arm around his shoulders and drapes the blanket over them, pulls it close. 

"You don't need to be under the blanket with me, if it's too hot."

"It's okay. I like it. It's comfy. Little warm, yeah, but that's alright."

The thunder is still rolling all around them, and the lightning strikes are more frequent now, flooding the parking lot in blazing white light. Everything looks flat and surreal, the shapes and forms of everything outside strangely distorted and sharp at the same time.

"It looks creepy."

"Like a horror movie, isn't it?" 

Josh feels Tyler shrinking into his side, so he quickly retorts.

"I mean, not exactly like a horror movie. Maybe more like one of those roadtrip movies, you know? Where a couple or a group of friends go on a trip across the country to find themselves, and they sleep under the stars and run through the rain and in the end they all fall in love or something."

It really does sound like a movie he may have watched before, he can't quite recall, but the feeling is there.

"Or they get drunk in a small town bar and dance all night and sleep on the truck bed and the rain surprises them in the early moring", he adds, quite proud of himself for the visual. The storm outside doesn't feel as frightening anymore, he realizes, now that he's having some good thoughts to think about.

"We could do that, you know? Maybe not sleep in a truck, I guess, but we could dance out there. Right now."

"You're out of your mind", Tyler says, shuffling back a little to get a proper look at Josh, who's expression is a weird mixture of giddy excited and dead serious. "Are you for real? There's lightning. We could.. We could literally get struck by lightning."

"Or we could get soaked and have the best night ever."

"Josh, this isn't The Notebook."

Josh sighs and leans back, stares out of the huge front window.

"You're right, I suppose. I just thought it would be fun. Unforgettable, you know? Our own little road trip movie scene."

He sounds so ridiculously sad that Tyler almost rolls his eyes, but he settles back against Josh's shoulder and nuzzles into the curve of his neck.

"We'd probably just catch a cold", Josh adds, and now Tyler really does roll his eyes, reaches for Josh's hand and pulls him up with him.

"Youre never going to let me live it down if I said no. So, 5 minutes. Not a second longer. And if we die, I'm gonna kill you."

***

The rain is like stinging needles even through their clothes, but Josh is so happy and excited that Tyler almost doesn't feel it. They're soaking wet in less than a minute, and Tyler is shaking and shivering even though he's laughing, and then Josh pulls him close and suddenly they're dancing - actually dancing, slow and close and really not in a way best friends should be dancing.

Tyler doesn't say anything; just leans close and rests his head against Josh's wet chest, and there isn't even music but it feels like the whole world is somehow making the soundtrack for them. The thunder, the distant crashes of lightning, the rhythmical splatter of rain - it all has its own hypnotizing beat, and soon enough, Josh's hands find their way to cup his cheeks, and he doesn't need to ask the question for Tyler to answer it with a faint nod.

He's never really kissed anyone besides his high school girlfriend, and this is very different. It's wet - obviously, but it's warm and familiar and it somehow falls into place without practice.

"And you said this wasn't The Notebook", Josh mumbles into Tyler's hair after what must've been just seconds, but felt like a small eternity, and he can't help but laugh.

"If it is, I want to be Ryan Gosling. And you're Rachel McAdams."

"Good. I always wanted to be the pretty girl."

Tyler pecks another kiss to Josh's lips, and if the thunder grows louder again and the rain colder, he doesn't really care anymore, because Josh is here and Josh is safe, and that is a universal truth.

**Author's Note:**

> finally!!!!! alex wrote a thing again!!   
> tbh this was kind of just a comfort fic for myself that i wrote during a thunderstorm, but i still hope you enjoyed it!


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